Gas Price

The gas price was well over $1.80 which is a lot in Montreal, its going to cost more to fill up my bicycle. But seriously, its all due somehow to the events in the middle east. In the painting, I show a gas station sign, over on Cavendish and Somerled, with my initials and the year instead of a price. In the background is an eerie glow from the gas station lights, and a green light on the left to provide contrast. The darn paint would just not dry fast enough, so there was some smudging here and there but it makes for quite a striking effect. 

Gas Price, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Sparkle flowers

 

This painting was at my Parents' place for a long time, now its been up on our fridge for awhile. Cilei really likes it, so I thought to put a scan up on the blog. The sparkle was done by tossing salt crystals in while the paint was semi-moist, which sucks up the water leaving a starburst effect. I made a series of such paintings but with dark black outlines, this one was a bit softer. It was done around 1999 to my recollection, my idea was to bring these to an art show in a park and sell some, but I never did make any sales that way. I sold several abstract paintings through the art gallery, and the art commune shop in London Ontario. 

Sparkle flowers, watercolour 4 x 6" cold press, 1999

Fresh layer of snow, under the weather

I bought a cheap DVD player to take advantage of the DVD collection they have at the local Cultural Center and Library. Lots of Zombies so far! Today I was feeling a little under the weather on the tail end of a cold, but got out there, and also made a few paintings while it snowed. I found a sheltered spot to stand across the street under the front overhang of the Sports Complex. With snow overhead you could say I was under the weather. Get it? I was sick, and standing under the snow, under the weather times two. To make this painting, I had to paint around all the snow highlights. It was tricky brushwork but at least I can wear my wool mitts instead of deerskin gauntlets which offered a bit more dexterity. 

Snow covered trees Cultural Center, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

You also get a sense of the incredible facilities we are lucky to have on this former location which was Benny Farm. This scene shows a medical center, they call them CLSC, with snow-covered pine trees in the foreground. Up in the background are the two massive apartment buildings on Sherbrooke, quite a few of my graduate students have rented apartments there as they live in Montreal. Unfortunately it will be difficult to bring in more international graduate students this year, although a Canadian graduate student applied and might get an admission offer soon. In other news, I am close to making a website for my immunology research laboratory, but no promises on when it will happen! 

Medical Center snow covered pine trees, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

 

Warm axons map

Its probably not the oddest title I've given a painting but probably close. After a lot of winter painting I cleaned the palette with a small brush, using the excess paint to make a few abstracts. I call these palette cleansers. Using different colours and making shapes is also a different experience compared to painting on location. On location, I try to represent the scene, while the abstracts are pure imagination. The idea was to create a maze-like tapestry, like a map of brain cells or axons. I liked the sound of 'warm axons', the way the two words blurr together. 

Warm axons map, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, March 2026 

Le Pois Penché and Paix Park

Along Maisonneuve there is a restaurant called Le Pois Penché, or the 'Leaning Pea' whatever that means, it has a ritzy looking France-style facade and red awning. The main reason to do this painting were the orange construction pylons. Our Mayor wants to rid downtown Montreal of orange cones so they are an endangered species now. I checked on google and this restaurant averages $100 per person, although it has 4.5 stars so it must be good. That's $22.22 per star, plus tax and tip. 

Le Pois Penché, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Paix park is down on Clark street near China Town, its not somewhere I would hang out but over the years I have done a few paintings of it, like in this blog which shows the interlocking brick lined with grass. I never  knew there was a massive dome structure in the background because the trees always block the view in summer, and you can't see the dome from other angles. I happen to be walking with my bike north on Clark and saw it. No idea what it is, tried google but no luck. The shops around it are various retail and ... other types of establishments I wont mention here. Guess it used to be a planetarium or disco club maybe. 

Paix park with dome, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026  

Tough conditions, freeze arse off

Down in Trenholme park after picking up the LUFA Farms vegetables I tried to make paintings but encountered some difficult conditions. Cold wet wind and mixed precipitation hovering around zero ℃ was more challenging than painting on a nice clear day at -20 ℃. At -20 ℃ or so, the moisture is gone from the air, and assuming no wind and proper clothes, its not that bad really. Today though, awful! I found a scene looking up an embankment at an old no bike parking sing, where the red circle had faded to a pale green which I found very interesting. The sun was struggling to get through the clouds. 

Faded bike sign v2, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026

This was the first attempt but everything went badly. The positioning of the sign was off from the get go, then the paint was freezing so I went to put salt water in the cup, dropped a palette, spilled some water, froze my arse off. Being stubborn I was thinking, no way I want to go home empty handed so I tried to finish version 1, then went and did a version 2 which worked out a bit better. Our weather is going to continue yo-yo-ing up and down for awhile. 

Faded bike sign v1, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Freezing rain and night-cicles

After picking up my newly repaired bike from Davelo, their mechanics do a wonderful job of it and were able to provide some new used parts for replacement, I made a quick painting of the freezing rain. This view is looking up Courcelle street towards Westmount, with a stone train bridge overpass. On the right, the small building is part of a water facility or electrical station. It takes some skill to paint a mushy mess like this, I get a lot of practice at this time of year.  

Tunnel freezing rain, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026 

Having to take care of some experiment for a student who could not drive in to campus today, I was there a little late and did a quick painting on the way out. Standing in a concave corner where the basketball court meets up with the athletic center, I had enough roof overhang to block most of the freezing rain. These icicles were actually over on a hand railing, so I transported them up to the eave in order to create effect. A strong flood light illuminated the icicles against a gloomy background containing the admin building. As usual, all the admin lights were on, not only do they work late, but they come to work when the University is officially closed for ice storms. Our admin is to be commended for the extra effort, or rather, their normal diligent effort. Night-cicles is a compound word I made up, like icicles at night. 

Night-cicles campus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, March 2026